NOUNS / PRONOUNS / VERBS / ADVERBS
Nouns
A noun is a word that identifies:
- a person (woman, boy, doctor, neighbour)
- a thing (dog, building, tree, country)
- an idea, quality, or state (truth, danger, birth, happiness).
There are several different types of nouns, which are as follows:
COMMON NOUN
A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g., boy, country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.
PROPER NOUN
A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g., Rohit, Africa, Tower Bridge, London, Monday. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.
CONCRETE NOUN
A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. Examples include, dog, building, tree, rain, beach, tune, Tower Bridge.
ABSTRACT NOUN
An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g., truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g., audience, family, government, team, jury. Collective nouns can usually be treated as singular or plural, with either a singular or plural verb. Both the following sentences are grammatically correct:
The whole family was at the table.
The whole family were at the table.
A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun and an abstract noun, while Tower Bridge is both a concrete noun and a proper noun.
COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns (or count nouns) are those that refer to something that can be counted. Uncountable nouns (or mass nouns) do not typically refer to things that can be counted and so they do not regularly have a plural form.
PRONOUNS
Pronouns are used in place of a noun that has already been mentioned or that is already known, often to avoid repeating the noun.
For example:
Rita was tired so she went to bed.
Kiran sent the children with him.
Rajat's face was close to mine.
That is a good idea.
Anything might happen.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things, for example /, me, mine, you, yours, his, her, hers, we, they, or them. They can be divided into various different categories according to their role in a sentence, as follows:
- subjective pronouns
- objective pronouns
- possessive pronouns
- reflexive pronouns
SUBJECTIVE PRONOUNS
The personal pronouns /, you, we, he, she, it, we, and they are known as subjective pronouns because they act as the subjects of verbs:
She saw Manjula.
We drove Rakesh home.
I waved at her.
OBJECTIVE PRONOUNS
The personal pronouns me, you, us, him, her, it, and them are called objective pronouns
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